This year’s Wood Protection Association (WPA) Annual Awards and Conference is themed Future-Proofing Demand for Correctly Treated Wood. The half-day conference will take place on May 8 in Leeds in conjunction with the WPA’s 2025 Awards. Among the conference speakers will be Paul Pennick, procurement director, h&b Buying Group, who will cover “What supply chain buyers want from the treated wood industry”. Mr Pennick believes the market potential for preservative-treated wood is strong. The Government’s ambitious infrastructure, homebuilding, and carbon reduction plans align with the benefits of treated wood. …Another topic will be the role of builders’ merchants in treated wood sales. …Ed Suttie, head of consultancy, BRE, will focus on “Changing service life and performance data for treated wood”. The emerging requirement for the declaration of Reference Service Life under the new Construction Products Regulation has sparked a reassessment of how service life is determined and communicated.